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A newly published research paper has concluded that police wellbeing dogs are beneficial additions to forces’ trauma resilience training.
According to the paper, authored by Dr Jessica K Miller from the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, police wellbeing dogs are ‘constructive’ and ‘overwhelmingly
well received’ when used in trauma resilience training environments. The paper also concludes that there is a good appetite for more such interventions to come.
Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS), supported Dr Miller’s paper with a proof-of-concept study looking at the effectiveness of using wellbeing dogs when providing trauma resilience training to police officers and staff.
Oscar Kilo’s wellbeing and trauma support dogs service—known as Oscar Kilo 9 (OK9)—aims to build on local police wellbeing dog services and make wellbeing dogs available to all forces who wish to introduce a dog as part of their wellbeing provision.
“Since OK9 Wellbeing and Trauma Support Dogs were first introduced in 2021, the aim was always to do as much as possible to help colleagues in policing by using the extraordinary power of specially assessed dogs. Typically, the dogs and their Peer Support trained handlers, visit stations and departments and bring welcome respite from the often difficult, stressful and sometimes traumatic work. As the number of wellbeing dogs has grown, so too has the role that they, and their dedicated handlers play every day, to try to keep officers mentally well.
“We were very excited to help with the valuable research by Dr Miller and we provided OK9 wellbeing dogs together with Peer Support trained handlers at trauma resilience training sessions to help students with the subject matter discussed. The findings from this paper corroborate our own research and experiences in more general terms, but in the training room, it is easy to see the benefits of a canine presence which assists ‘open minded thinking, logic and even self-compassion – which renders us more receptive to learning’.
“We look forward to working closely with Dr Miller and her team with future trauma resilience training using OK9 dogs to help with engagement, communication, and the effective processing of information. They will always also be on hand for the usual strokes and cuddles that generate smiles and feelings of wellbeing and we are so grateful that this fascinating research acknowledges the difference our OK9 dogs can make!”
Garry Botterill, the Oscar Kilo lead for the OK9 wellbeing and trauma support dog programme
For more information, download the Can Dogs Assist Police Trauma Resilience Training? A Proof-of-Concept Study research paper.
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